


like fire and rain

by keouil



Series: all that we hope to be [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comedy of Errors, Gen, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26932636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keouil/pseuds/keouil
Summary: minato doesn't get paid enough for this.or, konoha's youngest rookies meet ame's oldest orphans in the chuunin exams.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Nohara Rin & Uchiha Obito, Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Obito, Konan/Nagato | Pain/Yahiko
Series: all that we hope to be [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954069
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	like fire and rain

minato doesn’t get paid enough for this.

maybe the sandaime was playing some sort of practical joke on him and he’d come out any moment now to land the punchline, because apparently the rest of his life up until that point wasn’t hilarious enough. 

the young jounin jostles his mind to recall the last interaction he had with the hokage, trying to recall if it was something he said or did, for a man barely his height to subject him to such cruelty so early in the morning.

but upon further consideration, it couldn’t be that. because he also remembers being especially optimistic at the sudden encouragement the third sent his way after he consulted him about his plans to sign his kids up for the annual placement exams. 

obito and kakashi were finally kind of maybe getting along. but while that was all great and well, what that also meant was he had finally managed to subdue an _uchiha_ and _hatake_ enough for them to harness all that collective mastery of the ninja arts their clans blessed them with to good use that didn’t involve childish brawls. rin was still, first and foremost, their team medic. only with how she managed to not only keep up with her male counterparts – sometimes outperforming them entirely – but also himself was a testament to her growth. 

so konoha’s youngest jounin went ahead and endorsed konoha’s youngest genins for chuunin advancement. but he had little qualms about them actually passing. 

having just recovered from war, the elders were adamant on producing more strong-willed and top-notched shinobi more than ever. as a result, the notoriously unpassable test has now become nearly impossible to even complete at first try. 

but then that was never really his intention in the first place. not only for his selfish reasons of wanting to keep his hold on his cute little genin for as long possible, but because despite their promising improvement – they still had a long way to go and mountains to climb. all in all, he believed this was going to be an essential life experience they can look back on years later.

only with how things were going, it didn’t look like they’re going to be living long enough to come to that realization.

* * *

_“say that again punk, i dare you!”_

obito was currently in the process of blocking the air pathways of the orange-haired fellow from ame - _yahiko?_ \- in the form of a pitiful headlock. 

now the uchiha wasn’t exactly the lanky type like kakashi and certainly not as lacking in the height department, but he also wasn’t as jacked as he so ignorantly believed. the bright-haired boy in question was by far taller and bigger.

as if having only realized his rather obvious advantage, the ame kid leveraged his much more filled out build and threw his head back, which in turn sent poor obito staggering backwards. without even a moment to catch his breath, the ball of orange spun around and was on him right away. 

_“say what again?! that konoha is nothing but a mountain forest filled with old people like your own hokage –”_

only this seemed to have touched a nerve with kakashi. 

because now the roles have turned and he was the one attempting to make a beeline for yahiko’s throat, if not for a member of the kid’s own team finally getting over the initial shock of the previous altercation, and a red-haired boy blessedly stepping in between the two.

minato could sense them both sizing each other up, trying to decide whether the other was worth the fight. the tension in the air was too palpable you could cut it with a knife and still not emit a single reaction from the two boys. 

thanking all his lucky stars that kakashi wasn’t as aggressive and at least made an attempt at diplomacy, he moves to end this immature duel once and for all because _really, they weren’t even inside the battle area yet jesus christ_.

until the one student he never expected to disappoint him does exactly that in five words or less.

_“are you dying.”_

not even poised as a question or a remark apart from the obvious judgement and malice laced behind his words. he hears obito snicker loudly from behind him and summons enough will power not to shut them all up by force.

because minato knew this one at least, jiraiya had the common decency to orient him with who his babies-turned-brats should look out for in this year’s exam.

nagato, he was told, was a fairly weak boy since birth. he was naturally frail and not even rigorous shinobi training could hone his feeble body to grow into that of his other subordinates. his skin was also naturally pale and what made that even more apparent was the stark contrast it had with his hair – kushina’s hair. because this one was an _uzumaki._ he made sure to take note of that.

come to think of it, he and kakashi were more alike in the limitations of their physical bodies than they probably knew. kakashi was still half a head shorter than obito, an insecurity the latter always lorded over him, but had far more intelligence.

and with what minato knew of nagato’s eyes and kakashi’s skills, he knew he couldn’t let this one progress.

* * *

fortunately, the bell that signified the start of the individual battles rang just in time. 

quite literally, they were saved by the bell.

he slaps on the best mediating smile he can muster and tells them they should go inside now or they’ll be stuck with the bad seats. then with a little bit of faux dazzle and a knowing grin, taunts them that this was something best seen up-front _if you know what i mean._

on paper, the yellow flash was there unofficially. technically jounin senseis weren’t allowed to interfere with their own team’s progress in the exams. but because he still had issues with letting his kids run about unsupervised (and not at all the separation anxiety), he finds a loophole in the protocol and pseudo-assigns himself as just one of the many chaperones for the annual exam.

he also knew jiraiya did the exact same for the rather brightly-coloured ame genins that his team encountered just at the exit of the forest of death not an hour ago, which was what started their little spat in the first place. because yahiko couldn’t keep his loud thoughts to himself and obito couldn’t help not defending the honour of his village. 

but seeing as the toad master had yet to come, and because he was always a sucker for lost causes, he takes them on and ushers all six teenagers in.

acting as both proxy and mediator for two bustling teams wired with unresolved tension proved to be quite the task, yet minato managed. maybe because as soon as the first fight started, everyone’s unsated curiosity for shinobi jutsus and strategies and formations prevailed and they looked on with barely concealed fascination.

for the first time since their meeting, each one of them kept quiet.

* * *

until that point, everything seemed to be going fine.

until jiraiya arrives and makes an offhand question about how _whose prettier between konan and rin?_ and they do it all over again. 

minato _really_ does not get paid enough for this.


End file.
